Styrian entrepreneurs

Innovation award goes to houses that grow with you

Christoph Ludwig (Managing Director of the Styrian Business Promotion Agency SFG), Hans Schaffer (Managing Director of Kiubo), Barbara Eibinger-Miedl (Provincial Councillor for Economic Affairs) and Florian Stadtschreiber (Managing Director of Kiubo) at the award ceremony.(Bild: Land Steiermark/Robert Binder)

The winners have been chosen: the province of Styria has honored six local companies with the Innovation Award. They all focus on sustainability or digitalization. The Graz-based company Kiubo won the prize with housing modules that grow with you.

"People change throughout their lives - professionally, family-wise or locally - but real estate remains rigid," explains Florian Stadtschreiber, Managing Director of Kiubo. A concept that he sees as outdated: "Instead, we rely on standardized modules that are flexible and live with us."

Like a box, these wooden modules can be put together as required. This means they can move with their occupants or make a house usable in different ways over the years. "A vision that could revolutionize construction," says Stadtschreiber, for which Kiubo was awarded the Styrian Innovation Prize.

A Kiubo housing module being delivered to the demonstration project in Graz.(Bild: Kiubo GmbH)

The prize is awarded annually to six outstanding companies with a focus on sustainability or digitalization. This unofficial business award from the province of Styria distinguishes between "micro and small enterprises", "medium-sized and large enterprises" and "institutions of applied research and development".

Styria as an innovation pioneer
The award was preceded by a shortlist of three finalists in each category, which was drawn up by the Institute of Industrial Science. An expert jury, chaired by Infineon CEO Sabine Herlitschka, then selected the winners. Barbara Eibinger-Miedl, State Councillor for Economic Affairs, said: "The award-winning companies and research institutions impressively underline why Styria is one of the most innovative regions in Europe."

Barbara Eibinger-Miedl (Styrian Minister of Economic Affairs), Günter Petschnig (Managing Director of PJ Monitoring) and Christoph Ludwig (Managing Director of Styrian Business Promotion Agency SFG) at the award ceremony for PJ Monitoring.(Bild: SFG/Oliver Wolf)

Virtual Vehicle Research GmbH is also innovative. With a software solution for self-driving cars, they want to contribute to their real-time control. PJ Monitoring GmbH is also focusing on digitalization in the transport sector: They developed a system that performs an "automatic brake test" on freight trains - this replaces daily manual checks. The third winner in the field of digitalization is capito - CFS GmbH, whose hobbyhorse is the algorithmic translation of official language into simple words.

HyCentA Research GmbH won in the sustainability category with a measuring device used in the emission-free production of hydrogen, while Towern3000 Projekt- und Medienagentur won with an intelligent energy façade. Like Kiubo, they think in terms of the circular economy and focus on lifelong solutions. Kiubo may only be at the beginning of its company history, but Stadtschreiber is already drawing visions for the future: "We want to provide solutions for many problems in the construction industry. Our concept is as flexible as life itself and as mobile as our customers."